GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)

Details

GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)

La table (Nature morte à l'éventail)

signed on the reverse 'Braque'--oil on canvas
15 x 21¾ in. (38 x 55.2 cm.)
Painted in L'Estaque or Paris, Autumn, 1910

Provenance

Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris
Galerie Flechtheim, Berlin
Mr. and Mrs. Mendelssohn-Bartholdi, London
The Mayor Gallery Ltd., London
Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin), New York
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York
Scott & Fowles, New York
Acquired from the above by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Colin on Dec. 1, 1949

Literature

G. Isarlov, "Georges Braque," Orbes, Spring, 1932, p. 83, no. 101 R. Rosenblum, Cubism and Twentieth Century Art, New York, 1960, p. 222 (illustrated)
"Modern Art: The Distinctive Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Colin", The Connoiseur, April, 1960, p. 208 (illustrated)
M. Valsecchi and M. Carrà, L'opera completa di Braque, dalla scomposizione cubista al recupero dell'oggetto 1908-1929, Milan, 1971, p. 88, no. 52 (illustrated)
N. Worms de Romilly and J. Laude, Braque le cubisme fin 1907-1914, Paris, 1982, p. 268, no. 73 (illustrated in color, p. 118)

Exhibited

Chicago, The Arts Club, Braque Retrospective Exhibition, Nov., 1939, no. 42. The exhibition traveled to Washington, D.C., The Phillips Memorial Art Gallery, Dec., 1939-Jan., 1940, no. 16 and San Francisco, Museum of Art, Feb.-March, 1940, no. 42.
Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Jan.-March, 1941, no. 20. The exhibition traveled to Philadelphia, The Museum of Art, March-May, 1941.
Northampton, Smith College Museum of Art, Works of Art belonging to Alumnae, May-June, 1950, no. 41
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Summer Loan Show, July-Aug., 1950
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Selections from Five New York Private Collections, June-Sept., 1951, no. 20
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Cubism 1910-1912, Jan.-Feb., 1956, no. 3 (illustrated)
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., The Colin Collection, April-May, 1960, no. 50 (illustrated)
New York, Saidenberg Gallery, Georges Braque, 1882-1963, An American Tribute, April-May, 1964, p. 21, no. 20 (illustrated)
Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, The Cubist Epoch, Dec., 1970-Feb., 1971, no. 21 (illustrated in color, pl. 29). The exhibition traveled to New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April-June, 1971.
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Georges Braque, Oct., 1973-Jan., 1974, no. 35 (illustrated, p. 78 and in color, p. 5)
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Picasso and Braque, Pioneering Cubism, Sept., 1989-Jan., 1990 (illustrated in color, p. 178)

Lot Essay

Painted just after what Robert Rosenblum calls the "epoch-making" Still Life with Violin and Pitcher of 1909-1910 (Kunstmuseum Basel), this cunningly strident re-formation of the classic still life, with its glowing fan (or arrow?) front and center, almost seems like a gauntlet thrown to the face of conventional representation. Strongly outlined squares within squares float on a ground of stubby isolated strokes. At first glance La table is monochromatic but it actually pulses with varied earth tones and in every respect paves the way for Braque's triumphant Cubist paean The Portuguese (Kunstmuseum, Basel). The supposed aridity of the strenuous intellectual process so evident in La Table is counterpoised with the dramatically rich texture of the paint itself and the bravura method of its application.